Given that 2010 has been a mixed bag for many holiday businesses due to the financial crisis affecting the whole worldwide economy, we have fared reasonably well with some of our regular guests continuing to come out for a break. Some making shorter trips than in the past, but they came all the same and we have been grateful for the their continued patronage.

Never one to sit back and sulk, I chose to use the additional free time to continue my quest for good fishing here in the Algarve and between business commitments managed to seek out and find some new venues for the 2011 season, river fishing for Comizo barbel and large mullet and carp fishing that is full of good carp and close to the base hotel.

The smile on my face probably says a lot about how I feel about this new pleasure fishing venue! The mixed fishing on this dam near our accommodation is very good with big bags and good numbers of doubles mixed in, we watched a fish estimated at 30lbs feeding one day, so we expect big fish next year.

Not just carp fishing venues, but also river fishing venues that will give guests a variety of options during their trips.

The focus has also been on getting new good quality base accommodation that is close to the new venues and again we have come up with some that will provide short distances between hotel and fishery, ensuring that fishing time is optimised. One is just a few minutes from the hotel.

Just back from a very enjoyable trip, guiding a customer over for a weeks fishing here in the Algarve. He was delighted with his trip and I have to say I was delighted too as it provided a new venue for the future!.

A regular visitor who is interested in all forms of angling, so during this trip we ventured on to a new river venue to search for a few barbel, and were not disappointed taking some very nice fish, with a bonus 8lb mullet!

The venue will receive a little more attention over the coming months as i seek out the bigger barbel we have here in Portugal, them 'comizo' which run to over 20 kilo in weight.

The barbel on this river go to 20lbs, our other river has even bigger barbel best I have records of was 37lbs taken on a live bait ( stone loach). This year an English angler took a fish of 22lbs.

If you are interested in coming out to Portugal and fishing for our native barbel get in touch and find out more about the fishing and the accommodation we have on offer here in the Algarve.

Just back from one of my most enjoyable trips, guiding a customer over for a weeks carp fishing here in the Algarve. To say he was delighted with his trip might be a bit of an understatement, to say I was delighted would not do my feelings justice either!.

Weather turned a little inclement for a couple of days, but it didn't stop the fast growing Portuguese carp from feeding hard on most days. Lost count of the amount of action, but my customer, Kevin summarise's the fishing in his email he sent me on his return to the UK. You can read this below:

"Hi John this is Kevin, many thanks for last weeks fishing trip, it was great and I will be back same time next year with 2 of my mates. As you know I did not have a great experience last year in Spain, fishing with 3 mates only 6 rods for 4 anglers, no feed of any kind, it was really just a taxi service not guiding, so I was VERY relieved to see all your gear in the big transit and gobsmacked when you had to pick up 40kgs boilies from the front seat to make room for me.

On arriving at the water is was a big boost to my confidence that 2 of your experienced (fishing next year in the world carp classic) mates were there fishing, obviously they would not be wasting their time on a poor water.

Just to let any other anglers now what kind of guide you are I would like to mention that you gave me all the runs on my rods and yours until I had a new pb at 26lbs I then increased this to 30lb 8oz then again to 31lb 8oz. I kept a record of all the fish of the week and the average size was a very respectable 21lbs+.

The gear i used from the Force 8 bivvy to your 4 carp rods with Shimano bait runners was good and what about the food you supplied from the back of the van using your full cooker - proper meals like mum used to cook. Hope you or your mates break the Portuguese carp record, its in this water - regards to Ian, Chris and Nigel who turned up over the week."

Kevin

With the current winter rates available on the Budget Airlines, now is the time to come on out to Portugal, fares as low as £15.00 each way available on one or two, there are odd flights at no cost, but other charges may make a difference. Its cheaper to fly out here than drive to some of the UK venues, and blank. Here at the moment the fishing looks set to follow last years trend and we may see some huge fish in equally huge numbers.

If you fancy a carp fishing trip this winter with a chance of some super fishing, get in touch using the site Contact page, look forward to talking to you about what's on offer.

Great trip this past week in the Algarve, beginning of October 2009 with a customer, 9 fish over 20lbs best 28lbs backed up by lots of fish around 16lbs, some early pics of some of these fish below..

Full report to follow. Other angler on lake doing 36hr carp fishing trip had fish to 29.5lbs whilst we were there, had reports from other experienced anglers who had been on recently, losing some monsters that ran them all over the lake before breaking them. Looking forward to putting abait in their path in the coming weeks.

Let you know how we get on, so keep an eye on the site, try using the RSS Feed to get any updates on your desktop!

The angler fishing with me on this trip, for the 5th year is Keith Russell, who incidentally used to fish in the same team as the late great Ivan Marks.

Keith comes to fish the river Guadiana, which is the biggest river in the south of Portugal and is home for 5 types of barbel including the giant comizo that can grow to over 40lbs!

Additionally it produces wild carp that go to 20lbs and fight like tigers along with shad, sturgeon, mullet and small catfish - In the gallery here here you can see the river just north of the Algarve and what you can catch in a typical short session.

If you fancy some really exciting fishing and the chance of a huge Comizo barbel, come out and have a trip with me at Tightlines.

How to book your holiday:

If you wish to get more info on any of our trips then use our online booking einquiry page and tell us what type of fishing you want, how many will be coming, and when. We will then contact you to confirm your dates before you start booking flights and insurances etc. This gives us an opportunity to fine tune your trip and cater for your personal needs.

We look forward to hearing from you and organising a full holidy trip out to the Algarve or catering for you on a day out whilst out here on a family holiday.